


I will be your shield

by FisuMisu



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: A really really slow burn, Angst, Avvar, Avvar Culture and Customs, Because I just know I'll end up writing it at some point anyway, Character Death, Common is hard as shite, Demisexual Character, F/M, Finns rejoice, Heavy Angst, Language Barrier, M/M, Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas, Slow Burn, The common language will be written as Finnish when not understood, Torille, deep trust before any hanky panky, you know the drill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 03:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15900348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FisuMisu/pseuds/FisuMisu
Summary: Adina Shirazi had never lived in a perfect world, but if Earth had been wicked, Thedas was even worse.Her sister had played all the Dragon Age games while she had just occasionally watched and listened to her enthusiastic descriptions of the world of Thedas.She had also naturally done her duty as a sister and poked fun of that Dragon Age obsession on several occasions.Now, however, she wishes she would have written it all down or even listened more carefully.Forced to live within a body of someone else, a horned creature of some kind, she prays the information she had gathered before would be enough for her to survive the fantasy world she had been thrown into.There was no way in hell she'd just lay down and die... Not without knowing how and why this had happened to her in the first place.She'd start her journey by learning the common language, from a bearlike man of the Avvar, no less.





	1. The End

**Author's Note:**

> Here's what happens when I go against my better judgement and try to write a Modern Girl in Thedas fic of my own in the middle of the night. This was going to happen sooner or later, might as well happen now. We'll see where it leads us. Enjoy, and leave a comment or kudos if ya feel like it! <3

I had once imagined that my death would be a quick thing. A simple matter of being and suddenly not being.  
In my morbid fantasies I’d pass away because of old age with a loved one or two guiding my way. In the best scenario, it would even happen while I was asleep, without me knowing what was going on.

All in all, I had thought my death would be quick, or at least dearly hoped it would be.  


Which made my situation, tied to my seat with the whole world sidewise, all the more hard to comprehend. 

_“You-... You fucking bastard.”_ , I gritted between my teeth, trying to stop the shocked sobs to help my laboured breathing. 

But it was hard, impossibly hard.

Because I had just understood what was happening, what the dizziness and dark spots dancing in front of my vision could be indicating. 

I had only just realized that the reason I couldn’t move my right side was because there was a car door and glass shards firmly jutted into the flesh between my ribs and the warmth escaping me was currently covering that side, leaking far too quickly in thick red streams to the seat.

I had just realized that the person I had nearly avoided on the icy road hadn’t come to my car, most likely hadn’t called for help and had probably been a crackhead or a drunk far too gone to even understand what had happened. 

And I had just understood there was nothing I could do about it. 

My hands didn’t listen to my commands, the seatbelt kept me on my place and my throat was raw from calling for help which had never arrived. 

So I coughed and sobbed, trying to get enough air to my lungs even though I was sure there was something wrong with one of the two.  


I couldn’t see a thing, I had fallen from a bridge and my car was lying on its side somewhere off the road. 

And I was alone. Utterly alone.

My fingertips had started to feel cold and I felt betrayed when I noted that I was still horrifyingly aware of it all. Adrenaline numbed the pain I felt by a fraction but I knew it simultaneously just postponed it.

This wasn't right, this wasn't fair. 

_Death was supposed to be quick, god damnit!_ I wanted to scream.  


The waves of dizziness were forcing my eyes to close on their own accord but like a stubborn fool, I fought to keep them open. There was a chance, someone could still come. Someone could notice.

But I couldn't help it, breathing had become more of a chore with every minute that tickled by. That small flicker of hope died quick death... the lucky bastard.

I had never thought I would have so much time to realize what was happening, and now that I did, I didn’t want to think how all this happened without any meaningful reason, how I could’ve lived so much longer had one sorry idiot stayed off the road. 

Would the person I had nearly missed realize what they caused, what had nearly happened to them? Would they even understand to value their life more because of it? 

What if they wouldn't? What could I do about it? 

Nothing. 

I was completely helpless against everything that was happening.

I was angry, so desperate, and in my last moments all I could do was to mourn the life I could’ve had. To apologise for the hurt I would cause soon.

“Some birthday gift this is... should’ve gotten you that dumb game...”, I whispered when my vision started to darken. I was surprised something that irrelevant was the thought on the top of my mind on a moment like this. 

But that didn't matter, none of it mattered. These were _my_ last moments, I had the right to think about whatever the hell I pleased.

When keeping my eyes open started to feel too hard I closed them, pretending it was my own choice to face the darkness.

After that I thought of my little sister, her awfully cut red hair and her dimpled cheeks, my mother’s big round glasses and her weary smile that had welcomed me home for years. I couldn't help the weak, pitiful sob that escaped my lips.

I felt cold, the ice had creeped into my spine, my head, my feet.

It was time to face my end.

 _“Be good to mum, little fly...”_ , I breathed, trying to find a calm instead of focusing on the panic crawling on the edges of my mind.

And then, not even sure if I ever reached it, so very slowly... I finally drifted away.


	2. Redheads

“...So, you’re going with a redheaded cow lady this time?”, I quipped right behind my sister and smirked when she jumped on her seat.

“Jesus fuck- ‘Dina, stop that!”, Leah shouted as she turned and moved to push me away in her completely warranted flash of anger. 

Laughing, I just backed away and raised my hands in surrender. Since she had been so invested in the character creation screen of her newest game, it hadn’t exactly been a feat to sneak behind her.  
That didn’t mean I couldn’t still be needlessly proud of myself. 

“Oh, sister dear. Such vulgar words in this good Jewish household, how will I explain mother you’ve changed religion?”, I wailed and Leah scoffed so hard it must’ve hurt. 

“You won’t, because mum won’t care and I’ve only believed in the glory of the great spaghetti monster from the moment I was born. Now leave me alone.”, she hissed and tried to get her focus back to the game in front of her. 

“That wasn’t what you said at your Bat Mitzvah, young lady.”, I said with a nasally voice that made Leah roll her eyes. My imitation of Rabbi Jacobson from our community used to make her laugh when she was younger but it seemed like the joke had worn out its welcome somewhere between the years. I was beginning to suspect that the 17-year olds of today generally tended to steer away from the bad knock knock jokes and poor celebrity imitations my comical genius mostly consisted of. 

Which was a pity, truly. 

I moved my eyes from my sister back to the game she was playing. 

“Are you trying to make her look like yourself?”, I asked innocently, but unfortunately, it seemed to be just the wrong thing to say.

“What- Ugh, no! Stop assuming that!” 

I was bit put off by her defensive tone. 

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with some good old escapism from time to time, I’m not judging!”, I commented but it didn't seem to help.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised when, instead of answering, Leah just buried her face into her hands and let out a long suffering groan. When she recovered from her theatrics she gave me a flat look. 

“I’m doing the Iron Bull run, he likes redheads, therefore I am creating a redhead. I’m not making a character that looks like me to pretend I am the one frolicking in the forests and smashing all these characters. Stop.”

I had to take a moment to asses her sudden outburst. 

During that moment I realized something.

“Wait a minute…”, I muttered and lifted my gaze to meet Leah's.

She raised her brows… and then I pulled in the biggest gasp of my life.

“YOU MEAN YOU CAN ACTUALLY SHAG THEM?!”, I shrieked and this time my sister chose to scream into a nearby pillow. 

When she could look at me again, her face was almost as red as her dyed hair.

“YES. Yes, you can 'kinda' shag them! I have played this game through six times, don’t even pretend you didn’t know that!”, she groaned and sounded just about done with the whole conversation. 

“Yeah, but I didn’t know you could honest to god bang them! I thought the most you could do was to give them a smooch!”, I explained, slightly shocked.  
My little baby sister, playing something like…- 

“IT’S NOT LIKE THAT, I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING!”, she raised her hands in front of me as if to stop my racing thoughts. Then she lowered her voice and tried again. 

“You can stop thinking whatever was going on in your mind, thank you. I swear you- you won’t actually see anything, it just, fades away when you… you know...”, she assured with a painful amount of awkwardness and I hummed. 

“So… you can... uh, 'shaboink' them… but… tastefully?”, I said slowly. 

She let out a sound that was somewhere between a somewhat relieved sigh and a tired groan. 

“Yes.”, she admitted, “ You can... 'shaboink' them. Very tastefully though.”, she confirmed and I didn't really know what to say to that. 

"Well... huh." 

A thick silence fell over the room. 

Which ended quite abruptly when I clapped my hands together.

“Alright then! Will having red hair boost your Bull shagging stats?” I enquired happily. 

And that was the moment my sister threw her pillow at my face.

“OUT!”, she demanded, and after recovering from the hit I couldn’t help but laugh. 

“The hell?! I thought you liked it when I watched you play!”, I complained. 

“NOT ANYMORE, CHANGED MY MIND, LEAVE!”, she shouted and raised up to remove me forcibly from her room.

I was pushed outside the door and it banged shut right after, almost smacking me in the face as I turned. 

"NEVER COME BACK!", my sister shouted from inside the room, and with that, the conversation seemed to be over.

I let out a fond giggle and started to retreat but after I had taken a few steps back...  
I stopped.

For some reason I was overcome with a sudden, intense feel of melancholy. 

It paralyzed me and for the longest time I stood behind Leah's door without even really seeing it.

What was going on?

It couldn't be because of what Leah said, could it? I knew she didn't mean any of that "never come back" nonsense. This was just our normal banter after all and it had never affected me like this. So this had to be something else.

Was I becoming sick?

I noticed that I had absentmindedly rested my hand on the door frame and leaned there while trying to comprehend the feeling. 

Shaking my head, I pulled my hand back and straightened myself.

How odd. How very odd. 

I tried to calm myself to get rid of the unexpected emotion and after being at least partially successful, I opened the door a notch. I looked at Leah who had already turned back to her game. With a dumbfounded blink I noted that she had actually changed the hair color of her character. The cursor on the screen now lay completely on the opposite side of the color line and instead of the fiery red from before, the ox woman’s bun and lashes had turned completely white.  
I just knew it was a passive aggressive answer to my jokes.

I felt a bit bad. Teasing Leah was my job as her sister, but I guess I could sometimes just let her have her harmless fun, not shame her for it. 

It was time to behave decently, be a great big sister and whatnot. 

I started by clearing my throat awkwardly. 

“Ah, you know, before I leave for all eternity and stuff, I thought I would tell you that the red hair actually looked pretty good.”, I poked my head from the doorway.

I wasn't rewarded with an answer, Leah didn't turn. 

She didn't even bother to flip me off... which was... surprisingly polite of her? 

No, this was more likely just the classic case of 'punishment by silent treatment'.

Alright, fine. I was the ass in the room. Thankfully I was also one surprisingly stubborn ass.

I tried again.

“To be fair, if I had a type I’d probably pick something awesome like redheads too. Maybe that Bull guy isn’t even half bad, being a cool agent, spy dude... and… stuff and things." 

I realized quite quickly that I didn't know enough of the character to sound convincing so I dropped the attempt. Was Iron Bull the one with the big bushy beard? No, no... That had been Black... well? Blackwell? Sure, close enough. Not that one. Giving his name, Iron Bull was probably one of the horned folk, like the character Leah was making. 

Speaking of...

"So yeah, uh, give the red hair a go?”, I continued my earlier attempt with a hopeful lilt to my tone. After a few seconds of complete silence that hope started to waver. 

Leah wasn’t actually angry, now was she? That would’ve been just dumb. I hadn’t embarrassed her that badly after all, there hadn’t even been any witnesses present this time!  
I was starting to get frustrated. 

“You think gingers have souls, Leah? Silence means you don’t!”, I challenged with a smirk on my face.

This question was just stupid enough that it should’ve roused an immediate reaction from her, but when it didn’t, I seriously started to worry. My smile fell.

I opened the door and walked closer to her. 

“Okay, little fly, now this is just ridiculous. You can start buzzing any time you want ”, I tried to chuckle and awaited her to acknowledge me. 

But Leah didn’t move. 

I glanced at the computer screen but nothing seemed to have changed there either, she hadn’t even moved the cursor away from the hair color options. 

Now that was more than weird.

“Leah, sis, are you- are you okay?”, I asked uncertainly and moved next to her.

I reached to touch her shoulder but just before I did, Leah turned and caught my wrist into an iron grip. 

“What are you-”, I started, but when her eyes turned towards mine I came to a horrifying realization.

They weren’t hers.

I shrieked and tried to pull away but wasn’t able to free myself from her hold.

Watching my efforts, the thing wearing my sister's skin threw its head back and let out a sharp amused cackle. 

That old voice echoing around the room wasn't my sister's either. 

I tried to scramble away from the creature, but I was almost effortlessly held on my place.  
The thing hummed thoughtfully as if it would've studied my behaviour.

Then it grabbed my other hand and forced me to look at the blue dancing flames that had replaced Leah's brown eyes.

 _“Interesting, how very interesting…”_ , The creature muttered. I was too frightened to do much more than stare. I could feel my heart's frantic rhythm beating under my chest and I shivered when the creature let out a long sigh.

_“Quite interesting, but also very unfortunate.”_ , It whispered disappointedly, as if it wasn’t even talking to me. 

I looked into those blue eyes, scared out of my mind, trying to understand what was going on.

Leah’s face... that was my sister's face.  
But that wasn't Leah, it was something else. 

Someone else. 

As if hearing my thoughts, the creature turned back to me, twisting Leah’s features into an almost apologetic smile.

_“Forgive me child... it seems we chose poorly.“_ , it hissed, and just like that, let go of my wrists. 

I screamed as I fell through the floor, the room shredding to pieces in a blinding flash of green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really happy to see that some folks wanted to see more of this fic. Thank you so much for commenting!
> 
> Also there's nothing wrong about pretending to run around demon infested forests and tapping some fine booty along the way. There are worse hobbies to spend time in, I'm sure.
> 
> At least you're not jarring pickles or anything. Pickles that you will probably never even eat.
> 
> ... I'm sorry, sabah, granpa, it just doesn't make any sense.


End file.
